1.
Sportsman's Park
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Sportsmans Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in the central United States, in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street. The physical street address was 2911 North Grand Boulevard, in 1923, the stadium hosted St. Louiss first NFL team, the St. Louis All-Stars. Baseball was played on the Sportsmans Park site as early as 1867, the tract was acquired in 1866 by August Solari, who began staging games there the following year. It was the home of the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the National Association, originally called the Grand Avenue Ball Grounds. Some sources say the field was renamed Sportsmans Park in 1876, the local papers also still used the alternate name Grand Avenue Park until at least 1885. The first grandstand—one of three on the built in 1881. At that time, the diamond and the grandstands were on the southeast corner of the block, the park was leased by the then-major American Association entry, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, or Browns. The Browns were a strong team in the mid-1880s. When the National League absorbed the strongest of the old Association teams in 1892, soon they went looking for a new ballpark, finding a site just a few blocks northwest of the old one, and calling it New Sportsmans Park, which was later renamed Robison Field. They also changed colors from Brown to Cardinal Red, thus acquiring a new nickname. When the American League Browns moved from Milwaukee in 1902, they built a new version of Sportsmans Park and they initially placed the diamond and the main stand at the northwest corner of the block. This Sportsmans Park saw football history made and it became both the practice field and home field for Saint Louis University football teams, coached by the visionary Eddie Cochems, father of the forward pass. These included a 39–0 thrashing of Iowa before a crowd of 12,000, robinson launched an amazingly long pass in the game against the Jayhawks, which was variously reported to have traveled 67 or 87 yards in the air. College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson called the extraordinary, considering the size, shape and weight of the fat. Sports historian John Sayle Watterson agreed, in his book, College Football, History, Spectacle, Controversy, Watterson described Robinsons long pass as truly a breathtaking achievement. St. Louis finished with an 11–0 record in 1906, outscoring its opponents 407–11, the previous wooden grandstand was retained as left-field bleachers for a while, but was soon replaced with permanent bleachers. The Cardinals came back to their home in mid-1920, as tenants of the Browns, after abandoning the outdated

2.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area

3.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants

4.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media

5.
Tris Speaker
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Tristram Edgar Speaker, nicknamed The Grey Eagle, was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball and his 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. His 3,514 hits are fifth in the all-time hits list, defensively, Speaker holds career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. His fielding glove was known as the place where triples go to die, after playing in the minor leagues in Texas and Arkansas, Speaker debuted with the Boston Red Sox in 1907. He became the center fielder by 1909 and led the Red Sox to World Series championships in 1912 and 1915. In 1915, Speakers batting average dropped to.322 from.338 the previous season, as player-manager for Cleveland, he led the team to its first World Series title. In ten of his seasons with Cleveland, he finished with a batting average greater than.350. Speaker resigned as Clevelands manager in 1926 after he and Ty Cobb faced game fixing allegations, during his managerial stint in Cleveland, Speaker introduced the platoon system in the major leagues. Speaker played with the Washington Senators in 1927 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928, then became a minor league manager and he later held several roles for the Cleveland Indians. Late in life, Speaker led a short-lived indoor baseball league, ran a liquor business, worked in sales. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 and he was named 27th in the Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was also included in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Speaker was born on April 4,1888, in Hubbard, Texas, to Archie, as a youth, Speaker broke his arm after he fell from a horse, the injury forced him to become left-handed. In 1905, Speaker played a year of baseball for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute. He worked on a ranch before beginning his professional baseball career, Speakers abilities drew the interest of Doak Roberts, owner of the Cleburne Railroaders of the Texas League, in 1906. After losing several games as a pitcher, Speaker converted to outfielder to replace a Cleburne player who had struck in the head with a pitch. Speakers mother opposed his participation in the leagues, saying that they reminded her of slavery. Though she relented, for several years Mrs. Speaker questioned why her son had not stayed home and he performed well for the Texas Leagues Houston Buffaloes in 1907, but his mother stated that she would never allow him to go to the Boston Americans. Roberts sold the youngster to the Americans for $750 or $800, Speaker played in seven games for the Americans in 1907, with three hits in 19 at bats for a.158 average

6.
Rogers Hornsby
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Rogers Hornsby, Sr. nicknamed The Rajah, was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, Hornsby had 2,930 hits and 301 home runs in his career, his career.358 batting average is second only to Ty Cobbs average. He was named the National League s Most Valuable Player twice, born and raised in Texas, Hornsby played for several semi-professional and minor league teams. After that season, he spent one season with the New York Giants and he played with the Cubs for four years and won his second MVP Award before the team released him in 1932. Hornsby re-signed with the Cardinals in 1933, but was released partway through the season and was picked up by the St. Louis Browns and he remained there until his final season in 1937. From 1925 to 1937, Hornsby was intermittently his own manager, after retiring as a player, he managed the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952 to 1953. Hornsby is one of the best hitters of all time and his career batting average of.358 is second only to Ty Cobb, at.367, in MLB history. He also won two Triple Crowns and batted.400 or more three times during his career and he is the only player to hit 40 home runs and bat.400 in the same year. His batting average for the 1924 season was.424, a mark that no player has matched since and he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942 and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014. Hornsby married three times, in 1918,1924, and 1957, and had two children, one each of his first two marriages. Known as someone who was difficult to get along with, he was not at all well-liked by his fellow players and he never smoked, drank, or went to the movies, but frequently gambled on horse races during his career. Hornsby was born in Winters, Texas, the last of Ed, when Hornsby was two years old, his father died of unknown causes. Four years later, the surviving Hornsbys moved to Fort Worth, Texas, Hornsby started playing baseball at a very young age, he once said, I cant remember anything that happened before I had a baseball in my hand. He took a job with the Swift and Company meat industry plant as a boy when he was 10 years old. By the age of 15, Hornsby was already playing for several semi-professional teams and he also played baseball for North Side High School until 10th grade, when he dropped out to take a full-time job at Swift and Company. While he was in school, Hornsby also played on the football team. In 1914, Hornsbys older brother Everett, a minor league player for many years. He made the team, but did not play in any games for the Steers, following his dismissal, he signed with the Hugo Scouts of the Class D Texas–Oklahoma League as their shortstop for $75 per month

7.
Batting average
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Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batsmen in cricket and batters in baseball. The development of the statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. In cricket, a batting average is the total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been out. The number is also simple to interpret intuitively, if all the batsmans innings were completed, this is the average number of runs they score per innings. If they did not complete all their innings, this number is an estimate of the average number of runs they score per innings. Batting average has been used to gauge cricket players relative skills since the 18th century, most players have career batting averages in the range of 20 to 40. This is also the range for wicket-keepers, though some fall short. All-rounders who are more prominent bowlers than batsmen typically average something between 20 and 30,15 and under is typical for specialist bowlers. Under this qualification, the highest Test batting average belongs to Australias Sir Donald Bradman, given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only four other players have averages over 60, this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradmans average is so far above that of any other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest sportsman in any sport. As at 21 October 2016, Adam Voges of Australia has recorded an average of 72.75 from 27 innings played and it should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI histogram above, that there were no ODI competitions when Bradman played. If their scores have a geometric distribution then total number of runs scored divided by the number of times out is the maximum likelihood estimate of their true unknown average, Batting averages can be strongly affected by the number of not outs. A different, and more developed, statistic which is also used to gauge the effectiveness of batsmen is the strike rate. It measures a different concept however – how quickly the batsman scores – so it does not supplant the role of batting average and it is used particularly in limited overs matches, where the speed at which a batsman scores is more important than it is in first-class cricket. Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed, in baseball, the batting average is defined by the number of hits divided by at bats. It is usually reported to three places and read without the decimal, A player with a batting average of.300 is batting three-hundred. A point is understood, in only, to be.001. If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the.001 measurement, henry Chadwick, an English statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball

8.
American League
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The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League, is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a league based in the Great Lakes states. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season,25 years after the formation of the National League. At the end of season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2016, American League teams have won 64 of the 112 World Series played since 1903, the 2016 American League champions are the Cleveland Indians. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Originally a minor league known as the Western League, the American League later developed into a major league after the American Association disbanded, in its early history, the Western League struggled until 1894, when Ban Johnson became the president of the league. Johnson led the Western League into major league status and soon became the president of the newly renamed American League, babe Ruth, noted as one of the most prolific hitters in Major League Baseball history, spent the majority of his career in the American League. The American League has one notable difference versus the National League, in 1902, the Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis and were renamed the St. Louis Browns. In 1902, The Cleveland Bluebirds were also renamed the Cleveland Broncos, in 1903, the Broncos were renamed the Cleveland Naps. In 1915, the Naps were renamed the Cleveland Indians, in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York and were renamed the New York Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders were renamed the New York Yankees, in 1904, the Chicago White Stockings were renamed the Chicago White Sox. In 1908, the Boston Americans were renamed the Boston Red Sox, in 1954, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and were renamed as the Kansas City Athletics, in 1961, the league expanded and added two teams as the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, expanding the league to 10 teams. The original Senators team moved to Minneapolis/St, Paul in 1961 and were renamed as the Minnesota Twins. The Angels team name changed to the California Angels in 1966, then to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, expanding the league to 12 teams. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and were renamed the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1972, the Washington Senators relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners, in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays was added to the American League and at the same time, the Milwaukee Brewers were switched to the National League, leaving the American League with 14 teams

9.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games

10.
Hank Severeid
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Henry Levai Severeid was a Catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators and New York Yankees. Severeid was born in Story City, Iowa to Norwegian immigrants Lars Severeid, three of his brothers, Oscar and Charles, as well as Elmer, played minor-league ball. He is also the Baltimore Orioles Career Leader in At Bats per Strikeout, Severeid spent over a quarter century as a scout, for the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox from 1944. In 1941, he co-authored the book Play Ball, advice for Young Ballplayers with Charles Edward Chapman. He died in San Antonio, Texas in 1968 at the age of 77, Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference Play ball. Advice for young ballplayers by Charles E. Chapman and Henry L. Severeid with foreword by Bill McKechnie Hank Severeid at Find a Grave

11.
Jimmy Austin
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James Phillip Jimmy Austin was a professional baseball player and coach. Austin was born in Swansea, Wales, the son of a shipbuilder and he was one of only three Major League Baseball players to be born in Wales. His father moved to the United States in 1885 to find work and he did not see a baseball game until he was 14 years old. After leaving school in 1889, Austin became an apprentice machinist with Westinghouse, after finishing his four-year apprenticeship, Westinghouse went on strike. Austin took up an offer of $40 a month, plus a job, to independent ball in Warren. He returned to Westinghouse that fall, but in the spring of 1904, he signed with the Central Leagues Dayton, Austin remained in Dayton until 1907, when he was sold to Omaha in the Western League. He stole 97 bases for Omaha in 1908, and at the end of the season was sold to the New York Highlanders of the American League and he made his major league debut in 1909 at the relatively advanced age of 28. That year, Austin became immortalized in the Charles M. Conlon photo as the third baseman trying to avoid Ty Cobbs spikes on a stolen base, of the play, Austin said, Thats Cobb sliding into third and the other guy is me. He played two seasons in New York, but was traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1911 by new Highlanders manager Hal Chase, thus beginning a career with the Browns as player. It was Rickeys first managerial job, Austin continued as Rickeys Sunday Manager – Rickey had promised his mother that he would not enter a ballpark on the Christian Sabbath, and therefore Austin managed the Browns on those days. Austin played regularly for the Browns until 1921, and served as a coach for another 20 years, unfortunately, the Browns during this period were rarely ever in the first division, so his team won no pennants during his playing career. The Browns did however finish the 1922 season in second place, Austin did also have the great fortune of either playing for or coaching baseball greats Branch Rickey, George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby. In 1929, at the age of 49, Austin became one of the oldest major leaguers in history when he was inserted into a blowout and he cleanly handled two chances at third base, and struck out in his only at bat. After his coaching career ended, Austin retired and moved to Laguna Beach, California, Austin was one of the ballplayers who told his story in Lawrence Ritters classic 1965 book, The Glory of Their Times, from which much of the information in this article came

12.
George Sisler
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George Harold Sisler, nicknamed Gentleman George and Gorgeous George, was an American professional baseball player for 15 seasons, primarily as first baseman with the St. Louis Browns. From 1920 until 2004, Sisler held the Major League Baseball record for most hits in a single season, Sislers 1922 season — during which he batted. After Sisler retired as a player, he worked as a major league scout and he was on a team of scouts appointed by Branch Rickey to find black players for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the teams work resulted in the signing of Jackie Robinson. Sisler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, in 1999 editors at The Sporting News named him 33rd on their list of Baseballs 100 Greatest Players. Sisler was born in the hamlet of Manchester. His paternal ancestors were immigrants from Northern Germany in the middle of 19th century, when he was 14, Sisler moved to Akron to live with his older brother so that he could attend an accredited high school. When Sisler was a school senior, his brother died of tuberculosis but Sisler was able to move in with a local family. In 1911, Sisler signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates to play minor league baseball in the Ohio–Pennsylvania League and he played college baseball for the University of Michigan. As a freshman, Sisler struck out 20 batters in seven innings during a 1912 game and he lettered in baseball from 1913 to 1915. At Michigan he played for coach Branch Rickey and he earned a degree in mechanical engineering, after his graduation from Michigan, Sisler sought legal advice from Rickey about the status of his contract with Pittsburgh. The three-time Vanity Fair All-American had become highly sought-after by major league scouts, Rickey talked to Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss about releasing Sisler from the contract he had signed as a minor, but Dreyfuss maintained his claim to Sisler. Rickey wrote to the National Commission, baseballs governing body, who ruled that the contract was illegal, Rickey, now managing the St. Louis Browns, signed Sisler to a contract worth $7,400. Sisler entered the leagues as a pitcher for the Browns in 1915. He posted a pitching record of 5–6 with a 2.35 earned run average in 24 career mound appearances. He defeated Walter Johnson twice in complete-game victories, in 1916, he moved to first base and finished the season with a batting average above.300 for the first of seven consecutive seasons. He also had 34 stolen bases season, he stole at least 28 bases in every season through 1922. In 1917, Sisler hit.353, registered 190 hits, the next year he hit.341 and stole a league-leading 45 bases. He then enlisted in the army, joining major league players in a Chemical Warfare Service unit commanded by Rickey